


With A Little "Help" from the Cat

by Small_Hobbit



Series: Twelve Further Days of Christmas [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: M/M, Tilly the Cat - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 12:33:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5540102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Hobbit/pseuds/Small_Hobbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stanley is wrapping a present, with Tilly's assistance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With A Little "Help" from the Cat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kizzia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kizzia/gifts).



> The first of this year's Twelve Days of Christmas ficlets

Stanley Hopkins reached for another sheet of wrapping paper. He had one more present to wrap. He’d been invited to stay at 221B for a few days at Christmas and needed to have them done before the taxi arrived to take him there.

Initially he’d declined the invitation, but had been overruled by the combined insistence of both John and Sherlock. John had declared Stanley needed to take a break over Christmas and this was the only way it could be guaranteed. Sherlock had pouted and said he wanted to spend the time with Stanley but it would be too much effort to take all he’d need to Stanley’s flat and it would be so much easier if Stanley came to him.

Even Stanley’s excuse that he couldn’t leave Tilly had been easily countered by John saying, “And of course Tilly’s invited too. Mrs Hudson’s already bought special turkey flavour tins of cat food.” So Tilly’s bedding and other essentials were packed up ready and the cat carrier was on the floor beside them. Tilly didn’t seem concerned, having stayed in Baker Street when Stanley was recuperating there, as well as on a couple of subsequent occasions, she apparently viewed it as a second home.

All that remained was for Stanley to wrap the last present, slip it in his bag and he’d be ready to leave. They were for Sherlock, and at least they wouldn’t be difficult to wrap, even though they were the ones which had taken longest to choose. Stanley was pleased with what he’d bought: a CD of a provincial French orchestra who they’d heard when he and Sherlock had had a week’s holiday in Provence in the autumn; and a book of violin music which Mycroft had tipped him off as a recent release.

He placed the CD on top of the book, folded the paper over and heard the clink of the scissors as they fell on the floor. He bent down to pick them up only to find when he looked up again Tilly trying to bowl the selotape across the table. He grabbed the tape and quickly stuck the paper down before she could do anything else.

“All done!” he told her.

Then he realised she was sitting on the CD, which she had presumable slipped out from under the wrapping paper when he was picking the scissors up. He sighed. If he tried to unwrap the present the paper would be bound to rip so he’d have to wrap the CD separately. Fortunately he still had one sheet of wrapping paper left. He cut it in half and placed the CD on it, Tilly having moved.

He then realised she had moved because she was once again chasing the selotape, this time under the table. He knelt on the floor to retrieve it, coming face to face with the little cat.

“If you don’t behave Santa won’t bring you a present,” he told her firmly. Which he knew wasn’t true. Sherlock would no doubt have pointed out Santa didn’t exist; even if he did Tilly was a cat and didn’t understand him; and finally even if she did she would continue acting in exactly the same fashion, because that’s what cats did. The real reason it wasn’t true was because Stanley had already packed Tilly’s presents.

He stood back up and found the cat sitting on the CD again, tail neatly curled round her paws. He picked her up and hurriedly stuck the first piece of tape on to hold the paper in place. He cut the second piece and saw she was trying to remove the first piece with her teeth. He picked her up and one-handed finished wrapping the present. It looked uneven and he wondered whether he’d managed to wrap something else inside, but there wasn’t time to worry about that.

A glance at the clock told him the taxi would arrive in the next few minutes. He gathered together the two presents, holding firmly to Tilly at the same time; placed Tilly in her carrier and the presents in his bag. It was only as he had zipped his bag up he realised the CD had slipped into the cat carrier.

“Okay,” he said. “You win. You can sit on the CD, just keep your claws in.”

He heard the sound of a car pulling up, so picked up his two bags and the carrier and headed for the front door.


End file.
